


The Battle of Belonging

by astoriapond



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe: Basically Things are Different, F/M, Med-Nin Sakura, Non-Massacre AU, None of the bad things from canon happen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shinobi Sakura, academy au, except Naruto's parents are dead, good!itachi, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22890049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astoriapond/pseuds/astoriapond
Summary: It's standard in Konoha for all females to become med-nin and males to go to the Academy and become full-fledged Shinobi. Sakura knew what her role was since she was young, and she's happy working at the hospital.However, now that Tsunade's been appointed Hokage, the elders of Konoha are having issues with accepting the change in roles. She's asked Itachi and Kakashi to find a suitable candidate—a Kunoichi who's willing to attend the Academy disguised as a male genin to show the rest of the Hidden Leaf what Kunoichi are really made of.After an incident sends Naruto and Sasuke to the hospital, Itachi seems to find the perfect candidate in one pink-haired Kunoichi.But is Sakura up for the challenge?
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru/Temari, Sai/Yamanaka Ino
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	1. The Proposition

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> Well, I've literally never written fanfiction, and I never thought my first foray would be in the Naruto fandom, but here I am...
> 
> Facts about this universe:
> 
> Women Ninja are referred to as Kunoichi throughout the fic, and typically refer to the ones in Konoha working as med-nin.
> 
> Male Ninja are referred to as Shinobi, and their different levels. If they're in the Academy, they're automatically genin. After their 16th birthday, in June, Konoha holds their annual Chunin exams to see if they're ready to graduate. If not, they have another year to take the Chunin exams before they fail out of the Academy. This is rare and I will not explore this in this fic as I don't want to. Jonin are promoted the same as in canon.
> 
> The Uchiha massacre never happened, and they're a happy family. Sasuke's just a normal emo boy of 15. He'll get over it.
> 
> It'll mostly be canon relationships because that's what I dig, but I low-key really like Kakashi/Obito and Itachi/Shisui, so that may happen. If it does, I'll add the appropriate tag!
> 
> If you find any mistakes, please let me know!

The wind blew gently through the window as Sakura stared at the training grounds below. She watched as groups of two sparred, violent arrays of taijutsu and ninjutsu alike, the boys not participating yelling their support at the matches below.

“—the third time he’s been in this week. I’ve told him to watch how much he carries but…” Ino stopped, looking up at her friend. “Yo, Forehead, are you even listening?”

Sakura looked up, heat rising to her cheeks. “Shut up, Pig, all you do is talk. Is it so surprising that I block you out sometimes?”

The blonde smiled at her friend. “And what has you so distracted? You’re not normally one to watch the Genin train. Any certain boy down there finally catch your attention?”

Sakura looked back out the window. “Ino, are you happy being a medic-nin?”

“What? What’s brought this on? Sakura, we’re two of the best in our year! We’re almost on par with Shizune, and we both know you’re Lady Tsunade’s favorite.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Well, yeah. I like knowing that I’m helping people. We’re essential to Konoha, and we’ve learned so much since we were kids. I feel like working at the hospital’s really helped me figure out where I belong. Sakura, where is this coming from?”

Sakura shook her head. “Nevermind. You’re right. It’s just that sometimes, I feel like I could be doing more th—”

Her thought was cut off by an explosion from out the window, causing the pair to stand at the ready, looking out to see what happened. From below, they heard panicked shouting.

“Lee! Run to the hospital and grab the nearest med-nin! Neji, go over to Naruto and make sure he doesn’t try to move! I’ve got Sasuke,” the powerful voice of Gai-sensei shouted.

Smoke started to drift in through the windows, causing the two Kunoichi to start coughing. “Ino, come on! We can help!” said Sakura as she pushed the window further open, the smokes making her coughing worse. Despite this, she pushed through the pain it brought to her lungs—she had no doubt Ino was feeling the same. In the chaos below, she looked for a place to land that wasn’t currently on fire. Finding a spot, she took a leap, followed shortly by Ino. “I’ll head over go Gai-sensei, you head to the other Genin who was hurt!”

“Got it!” Ino replied before running off.

Sakura ran over to the man in the green jumpsuit. If she weren’t dealing with an emergency, she would’ve made a point to say something to Ino, but she had other matters to deal with. Seeing the Genin about her age on the ground, she got to her knees and began to use her Mystic Palm. “What happened?” she asked, the question directed at Gai-sensei.

Recognizing the med-nin outfit, Gai relaxed. “We were doing our normal sparring. Normally I wouldn’t let Naruto and Sasuke partner up because they always go a bit overboard, but I let them just this once. Just as Sasuke was about to use a fire jutsu, Naruto came up behind him and covered his mouth. I think Sasuke was too far gone to stop the jutsu at that point and it caused an explosion. Luckily, everyone else was too far away to get caught in the blast.”

“What was Sasuke aiming at if Naruto came up from behind him?” Sakura asked absent-mindedly, working on the worst of his burns.

“Ah, Naruto has a thing for using Shadow Clones, and so he must have used one to sneak up on Sasuke. I wasn’t really watching their fight all that closely until it got bad.”

“Sensei! I have brought help!” Another Genin in green jumpsuit came running up to the two of them. He stopped short. “But help is already here?” he continued, confusion in his voice.

Sakura looked up and saw the two med-nin behind the Genin. “Perfect! Hinata, go over to Ino and help her patient onto a stretcher. I think he’s less injured, but we still need to get him in. Tenten, help me with some of these burns and we’ll do the same. I’ve gotten the basics of the situation, but we won’t know more until these two are stabilized.”

Hinata nodded, turning towards where she had seen Ino earlier, and flushed red. Her eyes widened when she saw the orange heap laying on the ground. “N-Naruto?”

“You know him?”

“I-I’ve s-seen him around before. Y-you say he’s not as injured?”

“Yeah, but I’ve been over here, so if you could check, that'd be really helpful, Hinata!” Sakura replied, getting short with her friend. Her eyes softened. “Sorry, Hinata. This is serious. We really need to focus.”

“Right,” the Hyuuga replied, before heading to her patient.

“Gai-sensei, could you get the rest of the Genin back to the Academy? The audience isn’t helping the situation,” Tenten said, kneeling down to assist Sakura.

“I can do that!” He looked towards the Genin gathered around. “Those who don’t make it back to the Academy within 3 minutes will have the pleasure of training with Lee and me this weekend!” he shouted cheerfully. The faces around paled as the group of boys stumbled to their feet and ran in the direction of the Academy.

“Alright. I think he’s stable enough to get him to a room. Because their injuries are similar, let’s see where Ino and Hinata brought the other Genin and see if we can’t get them a room together.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The pair each grabbed an end of the stretcher and walked back towards the hospital. One of her colleagues (who, for the life of her, Sakura could not remember the name of) must have realized that her patient was with the patient Ino had just brought in. “Third floor, room 317.”

“Thanks!” the pair called as they ran towards the stairs.

“Sakura, these injuries look serious. Are you sure we don’t need to call Lady Tsunade?” Tenten asked nervously.

“She has enough on her plate. The council is already fighting the decision of her being Hokage; we can’t just pull her out of the office whenever we think we can’t handle something. If it turns out bad, we’ll figure it out from there, but we shouldn’t bother her.”

The two arrived at room 317 just as Ino and Hinata were leaving.

“What’s his status?” Sakura asked.

“His burns were mostly superficial. I think he hit his head in the explosion somehow because he’s knocked out _hard_ , but other than that, he’s resting. We’ll check on him in an hour to see if there are any changes. We were going to go to the Academy to get more information on both of the patients. Hinata said that the Genin looking after Naruto here is her cousin, so it won’t look as weird for two kunoichi to be over there.”

Sakura nodded. “Sounds good. Let me know if you find out anything new, alright?”

“Got it, Forehead,” said Ino with a smile.

Hinata smiled with a blush before walking away with the blonde.

“Once we have him on the bed, I should be able to take it from here, Tenten. I know you were working in Labor and Delivery today.”

Tenten grimaced. “Yeah, color me thrilled. You sure you don’t need any help?”

“Nah,” she replied, “I’ve got this.”

Once the brunet was placed on the bed, Sakura got to work on the rest of his injuries. The burns covered most of the upper-half of his body. When she was satisfied with her work, she began a diagnostic. Hands hovering over his body, they paused when they got to his throat. _'Not shocking considering the source of the explosion. Talking’s going to be a bitch for a while,'_ she thought to herself. Readying her Mystic Palm once again, she was shocked to see red eyes staring at her. With a yelp, she stepped back as her patient grabbed her right forearm tightly.

Without thinking, Sakura focused her chakra into her left hand and forced the boy to let go, using her now-free right hand to push him back to the bed despite his struggles to get up. This wasn’t the first time a patient didn’t know where they were when they woke up, but it was the first the blatantly attacked her, and so soon after their injury.

He opened his mouth to speak, but grimaced before any words could make it out of his mouth. Sakura smirked.

“Yeah, thought so. You were injured during training. Something about you trying a Fireball Jutsu and your friend basically making you swallow it? You know, with better chakra control, you probably could’ve prevented this whole debacle.”

He glared.

“Yeah, I’m not intimidated. I’ve had all sorts of patients. What surprises me is that you’re awake. You had a lot of burns, and even though I healed them, you should still be out.”

His glare continued.

“Man, you’re a great conversationalist, much better than Ino. As far as your throat goes, because it was the source of the explosion, it took the brunt of the damage. I’m surprised your head didn’t come off! However, because the throat is so sensitive to injuries, it’s also sensitive to healing, so I can’t use my jutsu on it. We do have specialized drinks that can help heal it. If you follow the instructions, you should be fine in two, two and a half weeks.”

The Genin lifted his hands and mimed for a pen.

“Oh! Yeah, let me find a pen and paper.” She looked around and found what she needed on Naruto’s bedside. “Can you write your name down for me, also? We didn’t actually get your personal information before admitting you. You and your friend over there.” She pointed her head towards Naruto’s bed. Sasuke’s eyes followed the movement, and his frown turned into a smirk. He took the pen and paper in hand and started writing.

**"You’re annoying."**

She read the words with a frown. “Hey, at least I didn’t leave you with Ino. It could’ve been a lot worse.” She said the words light-heartedly, but it didn’t stop the sting. She had heard worse over the years, but from a stranger? “Now, your names?

**"I’m Sasuke Uchiha. The dobe over there is Naruto Uzumaki."**

She had gathered that he was an Uchiha from his Sharingan—the clan was very prominent in Konoha—and she knew Sasuke was the younger son of the clan head. Though she had seen the Genin in passing, she had never made the connection before today.

“Well, Sasuke Uchiha, you’re still pretty badly hurt. You’ll have to stay overnight for observation. Since you’re a Genin, I don’t _need_ to let your clan know you’re here, but did you want me to send someone to contact them?”

Sasuke stared at her for a moment before moving the pen again.

**"My brother, Itachi. He should be at the Hokage’s office around this time. He can let our parents know."**

“Itachi? Yeah, I think I’ve seen him with Lady Tsunade. I’ll have someone head over there once I’m done in here. And your friend? Anyone I should notify?”

**"Is he seriously hurt?"**

“Nothing that will prevent him from being discharged once he wakes up.”

**"Only Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei, but since we’ll be going back to the Academy, they’ll already know."**

Sakura smiled. “Y’know, despite being a bit difficult at first, you’re pretty helpful.” She noticed his eyes starting to drift. “Sasuke, why don’t you rest a bit more? You need to build up some strength before we can give you the mixture for your throat. Someone will check on you in a few hours.”

* * *

Sasuke woke to crashes around the room. Forgetting where he was, he sat up in a hurry. Across the room, he saw Naruto surrounded by clones going against a familiar looking girl. _'A medic-nin? What does the idiot think he’s doing?!'_ He moved to get up, ready to protect the pink-haired girl.

Before his legs could swing off the bed, however, he saw a fist punch into his rival, pushing him back into one of his clones, both of them disappearing into smoke. This left only 3 Narutos left. Curious to see what would happen, Sasuke activated his Sharingan, still a bit out of it.

“Sir, I need you to calm down! I don’t care if you’re a Shinobi or not, I’ll knock you right back out if I have to!” She aimed a kick at another of the clones, causing another cloud of dust. The two remaining Narutos stopped where they stood.

“Wh-what happened?” he asked, confusion evident in his voice.

“Get rid of your clone and maybe I’ll tell you,” the pink-haired Kunoichi answered.

“Huh? Oh, yeah! Sorry,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He dispelled the last clone and sat on the bed.

“A few hours ago, you and the rest of the upper-level Genin were sparring. You and your partner got into an accident. He was about to use a jutsu and you decided to stop him by _essentially_ making him eat a ball of fire. You had a few burns, but you got knocked out pretty good. Your friend’s fine. Looks like he’s listening to us, anyways, while he _should be resting."_ The end of the sentence was pointed in his direction. He layed back down on the bed, ignoring the rest of the conversation. It was all coming back to him.

_'Damn idiot made me make a stupid mistake! And that Kunoichi was trying to school me on chakra control? What does she know?!'_

Sasuke looked at the foot of his bed and saw the soft smile of his older brother.

“Ah, finally noticed I was here, did you? Who distracted you more? The blond friend of yours or the fearsome Kunoichi who tells it as it is?” Itachi softly asked his brother.

He responded with a glare.

“Oh, yes. Sakura mentioned you won’t be able to speak for a few days. I’ll fill in the blanks as I please. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Mother and Father have been made aware, and they send their best wishes. I figured you wouldn’t want them overcrowding you—I know what you’re like. Please, little brother, let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I have some matters I must attend to.” Itachi stood and began to walk away. Sasuke watched, the glare lifting from his eyes. Instead of heading out the door, his older brother turned around and walked back towards Sasuke. He reached out his hands and gently jabbed him in the forehead. “Anytime, little brother.”

Itachi made his exit.

* * *

  
  


He caught up to her just as she was discharging Naruto.

“—in if you feel any lingering signs of a concussion, alright?” Sakura asked the excited blond.

“Got it!” he shouted, his thumb up in affirmation. Behind him, Iruka Umino rolled his eyes, ready to walk his student back to the Academy for the evening.

“And Iruka-sensei?”

“Yes?"

“It’s my professional opinion that Naruto doesn’t attend any classes or training tomorrow just to make sure he gets healed up properly.”

Naruto turned back to her. “What?! No! I’m fine! I’ll take it easy, but I can’t let up on my training, otherwise teme’s gonna get better than me!”

She eyed the two. “Should I assume ‘teme’ is Sasuke Uchiha, who is still upstairs under observation and won’t be training either?”

Naruto flushed. “Well, yeah, but that won’t stop him!”

“Don’t worry, Naruto,” Itachi interjected. “If being in the hospital won’t stop him from training, I’ll do it myself. Now head on back to the Academy. It’ll be nice to have your room to yourself for a few nights, won’t it? I want to have a few words with Sakura here.”

Sakura looked at him in confusion. “You got it! Let’s go, Iruka-sensei. Can we get some Ichiraku before heading back? I’m starving!”

“You always are, Naruto…”

The two left the hospital. Sakura turned to Itachi. “What can I do for you, Uchiha-san?” she asked politely. “Is there anything I can do to help with Sasuke? Did he ask for anything?”

“No,” he replied. “Nothing of the sort. I was wondering, would you mind coming with me? I have something I’d like to discuss with you and a few others. We’d have to leave the hospital, but if your shift is almost over, I would greatly appreciate it.”

Sakura was nervous. What could the heir to one of Konoha’s most significant clans want with her? “Do you mind me asking where we would be heading?”

“Oh, of course not. It’s some business I have with the Hokage and Kakashi-sensei over at the Academy.”

“And this business has to do with...me?”

“I very well think it could. It is, however, entirely up to you.”

“And what _is_ this business?”

“You’ll just have to find out when we get to the Hokage Tower.

* * *

“Ah, Itachi! You’re back sooner than I was expecting. Is your brother alright? I hear one of my finest students was attending to him.”

“Of course, my Lady. And one of the finest she is.”

Sakura furrowed her brow. She knew Lady Tsunade well, had looked up to the woman her whole life. Does she regularly talk about her with village jonin?

“And what exactly do you mean by that, Itachi?” Tsunade asked, a threatening tone hidden in her voice.

“Nothing that you’re thinking of, Hokage-sama,” Itachi assured. “It’s actually about that conversation we were having earlier with Hatake. While waiting for my brother to awaken, there was an...incident with the other patient, Naruto.” Tsunade sighed when she heard the name. “I think it was more from the confusion than anything, but his response when he woke up was to go on the offensive. Unfortunately, that left the med-nin taking care of him as his victim. To my surprise, she was able to handle the situation without any assistance, and you know how Naruto can get with his Shadow Clones.”

_'Those were Shadow Clones? I just assumed they were normal clones! They dispelled so easily!'_ Sakura thought to herself, still hiding behind the Uchiha.

Itachi continued, “I don’t believe she even put a thought into what she was doing, it was almost as if it were second nature to her. If we were to go through with this idea of ours, I think she would make an excellent candidate.”

Sakura had enough. She stepped out from behind the older man and looked at her mentor. “M’Lady, what is he talking about? A candidate for what? And those were Shadow Clones? Uchiha-san, why did you want to talk to me here?” The nerves were strong in her voice.

“Sakura! I guess it only makes sense that Itachi would escort you here given his intentions. Before we can answer your questions, however, we do need Hatake here. Itachi, can you get him?”

“Mah, there’s no need,” called a voice from the window. A tall man leaned against the frame, his left eye covered by his forehead protector. He had silver hair that seemed to defy gravity. Sakura recognized him instantly—Kakashi Hatake was a famous jonin in Konoha and one of the toughest teachers at the Academy. “I saw Itachi leaving as I was checking in on my two cute students who were stupid enough to get hurt today, and to my shock, what do I see next to him except the pink-haired Kunoichi who took charge of the stressful situation and got it under control?”

“Well then,” Tsunade said, rolling her eyes, "Sakura, if you’d like to take a seat, we’d be happy to explain.”

“Yes, M’Lady,” Sakura replied before doing so.

“Before I explain, however, can I just say how impressed I am with your choice in candidate, Itachi? She’s exactly the kind of student I had in mind. Although, if we do follow through, I will miss her presence at the hospital.”

“W-why wouldn’t I be at the hospital any longer, M’Lady?” Sakura asked nervously.

“Well, Haruno, here’s the deal,” Kakashi began. “Ever since Lady Tsunade was chosen as Hokage, there has been a lot of backlash, a lot of people saying a woman doesn’t have the strength to lead one of the Five Great Nations, to be one of the Kage. However, if we look at the other villages, such as Suna, they don’t have such practices. In fact, Kunoichi all around actively become Shinobi, not just med-nin. They learn to fight, they practice taijutsu and ninjutsu. They become Jonin-sensei and help teach the next generation, they fight in wars. Konoha is the only Hidden Village that limits our forces based on gender. What we’re proposing is integrating the two fields—give Kunoichi the chance to become Genin and beyond and allow the practice of medical ninjutsu to all ninja.”

Sakura was silent. It was a lot to take in at once. “And you want me to...do _what_ exactly?”

Tsunade offered her a smile. “Sakura, this is going to be asking a lot of you. Before I make the offer, I want you to know you are more than welcome to decline it. If you think the hospital is where you belong, I will not doubt that you’re correct. However, please hear us out. I think this is something you’ll be very interested in, given the description of the interaction with Naruto that Itachi gave me.”

Sakura blinked up at the blonde.

“Come next Academy season, we’d like to enroll you as a new student. It will be unorthodox considering you’ll be turning 16 next year, and the rest of the year will be preparing for the Chunin exams. If you accept, you’ll have to train hard with Kakashi, Itachi, and whoever else they may find suitable for you.”

“But how would that work? I’m a Kunoichi, I can’t enroll in the Academy!”

Itachi stepped forward. “That’s where it gets interesting. We wouldn’t be enrolling you as a Kunoichi. You’d be enrolled under an alias. Only us and those training you over the summer would be aware of your true identity. Everyone else at the Academy will be under the impression that you’re male, just like them.”

Sakura stared at the three adults around her. Slowly, she met each of their eyes, waiting for the joke. After a minute, she finally blinked. “You’re...serious.”

Tsunade looked her dead in the eye. “We are. Sakura, Konoha is at a disadvantage as it stands now, and the only reason is the elders are afraid of losing tradition. If we can show that a Kunoichi has as much strength and determination as a standard Shinobi, we can break down those barriers, we can offer a future to young Kunoichi throughout the Hidden Leaf that they didn’t have before.” Her eyes softened. “Like I said, you’re under no obligation to do this, Sakura, but I believe, with your strength? Our plan will work.”

Sakura thought back to earlier that afternoon, her conversation with Ino. She had been watching the Genin train with envy. They were allowed a freedom she never was, and now she was finally offered the chance. How could she pass this up?

Sakura stood.

“I’m in. What do I need to do?”


	2. Moving Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience! Work's been crazy, now it's Spring Break and they're talking about cancelling school next week for COVID19, so that's fun...
> 
> I tried to make the Kannabi Bridge make sense with this AU, so, you know, cut me some slack, I tried my best lmao
> 
> Also Obito's weird to write when he's not a kid and when he's not, you know, crazy, so let me know if he's too much

They didn’t give her much to go off of.

“You’ll meet with Kakashi at Training Ground 62 at 6 tomorrow. He can go over more details with you there,” Tsunade told her.

6:15 came around and alone Sakura stood, the sun just beginning to peek out from behind the trees.

 _‘It’s a bit rude to tell me to be somewhere at a certain time and then not show up,’_ she thought to herself.

“Huh, it’s not often that Bakashi’s later than I am,” piped a voice from behind her. Sakura jumped, her head turning at a speed she didn’t know it possessed. There stood a man covered in scars, two mismatched eyes, and a happy smile on his face. “While we’re waiting, wanna spar?”

“And you are…?”

“Ah, only polite to introduce myself. Guess the clan did teach me _some_ manners if nothing else. Obito Uchiha, at your service!” the man said in a voice like a grand gesture. “I hear you hung out with some of my cousins yesterday! Itachi’s not too bad, but Sasuke...kid’s got a stick up his ass or something. Eh, I’m sure he’ll grow out of it! Or...grow into it? Does he want it to stay there? I guess that’s up to him.”

Sakura continued to stare. “And why are you here?”

“Oh! They didn’t explain last night? I’m here to help train you! I hear your chakra control’s excellent, but if you want to pass with the Genin of your age, you need a lot more than that. I was dead last when I was at the Academy, so Bakashi thinks I might be able to help get you caught up. I’ll also help with your cover. Upper level Genin are put into squads of three with a Jonin-sensei, so he’s going to rig it so I’m yours, just in case. Not that it’ll give you an advantage or anything!”

“Alright, but why you?”

“Story time!” Obito sat down cross-legged. Still perplexed, Sakura followed suit. “Once upon a time, there was a handsome Genin with dark hair and dark eyes. He was on a team with a stuck-up prick with sticky-uppy silver hair. The two didn’t get along well, but because they were on a team together, they also got hurt a lot together, and thus would end up in the hospital together. Unfortunately for the handsome boy, he would always be stuck in the same room as the prick because they were teammates. _Fortunately_ for the boy, the same med-nin always seemed to tend to the two. Her name was Rin, and she was the coolest. Now, while the dark-haired boy was incredibly handsome, he was an absolute pain in the ass to have as a patient. The same could _probably_ be said for the other guy, but hey, I’m no medic. One day, the two were sent on a mission to blow up a bridge while their third teammate was on a different mission, and unfortunately, everything went wrong. Luckily, however, Rin was sent out to a nearby village to help with a sickness that had plagued them. Nothing too terrible, but nothing their healers could handle. The black-haired boy was crushed. Not metaphorically, mind you. Quite literally. Under a boulder. Crushed the right half of his body. It sucked.”

Sakura listened aptly, wondering where this story was going.

“Now the prick wasn’t as much of a prick as he led everyone to believe. He wasn’t going to leave his teammate behind, as much as they disliked each other. Unfortunately, he was injured on the way to the bridge. An enemy nin attacked and got his left eye, so they were both in pretty bad shape. But he got the other boy out from under the boulder and carried him to the nearest village.”

“It just so happened to be the same village Rin was helping. When the silver-haired boy dragged his comrade into town, he was unconscious, and wasn’t looking too great himself. When the villagers saw the two, it caused quite the panic. Of course, they could tell from the headbands that the Genin were ninjas of the Leaf, but they didn’t know if danger was following them. Then Rin came out to investigate, and when she saw her two patients, the pair she knew couldn’t stand each other holding onto one another for their lives, she threw herself into action.”

“They were rushed into the nearest home and placed on beds. Obviously the boy who was crushed was in much worse shape, so she took a look at him first. His injuries were bad. Like _real_ bad. But she still started to heal him. Eventually he woke up, and he knew things weren’t looking too good.”

“‘Rin,’ he said, his voice as handsome as his face once was. ‘I know my chances are low. I probably won’t make it. Take my eye, the one that was not crushed, and give it to my comrade. He will not make it without two functional eyes!’ he cried bravely.”

“Obito, that’s not how I remember it at all,” a soft voice from behind Sakura said, voice full of mirth.

“Mah, and how can a voice be handsome? All I’m hearing now is the same garbled trash you always spewed.”

“Bakashi! Rin! Let me have my moment to shine!”

Kakashi met Sakura’s eyes. “You want him to finish his embellished story? There is some truth to it.”

Sakura looked between the two newcomers. “Is he always like this?”

“Only when you first meet him. He calms down after a while.”

“Then I guess he can finish.”

Obito eyed her with a false glare. “Thanks for your blessing, kid. Anyways, thinking he was going to die, he insisted that Rin transplant the eye that wasn’t damaged into his friend, to give him a chance.”

“I thought it was so we could see the future together?”

“This is my story! And so she did. After the uglier of the two got healed up, Rin and the silver-haired boy brought the dying boy back to the Hidden Leaf so he could at least have a chance to say goodbye. Never did he think that Rin was so determined to heal him. When they got back to the village, Rin dragged Lady Tsunade to his room and demanded she help heal him. You see, Rin knew that Tsunade was an advocate for healers on the field, and she supported this. While the two boys gave her a big headache everytime they were admitted, Rin felt like she could be doing more. She wanted to be out there on missions, not as the last resort for the dying. There’s some more to the story, clan politics and eye disputes, but that’s the gist.”

“So that’s why me. If Bakashi and I had Rin out there with us, he wouldn’t have to go out half-blind on every mission on his. I would have two functional eyes. Shinobi all over the Leaf wouldn’t have to deal with stupid losses every time someone gets hurt because we don’t allow healers out on the field, and we’re too picky about who becomes a healer. When Tsunade and Bakashi told me about this plan of theirs, I couldn’t say no.”

Sakura looked between the three. While the story obviously had some embellishments, she could see the truth in their eyes. This is what Shinobi and Kunoichi have been dealing with for years?

“Alright, so what’s the plan?”

“Well,” Kakashi began, “let’s get you caught up on your backstory.”

“Hi, Sakura.” said the brown-haired girl. “I’m Rin Nohara. You might recognize me from this idiot’s story,” she finished, pointing at Obito.

“Hey!”

“So the only people who know about this right now are the Hokage, Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi, Obito, you, and myself. Because of the situation, we will be informing two others about the plan, one at your discretion, and the other at the Hokage’s.”

“I’m here because I’m your backstory. Like you, I’m from a civilian family, except I’m not from the village, I came from an outlying town closer to the border. My name’s not recognizable except as a healer, and most people in the Leaf don’t know about my family. When the new term comes around, however, the Academy will meet my younger brother, Sakaki Nohara, you.”

Kakashi stepped forward. “No matter what we teach you before you’re enrolled, your skills as a medic are going to shine through, and we needed a reason why. Thus we thought giving you an older sister who’s a medic would be an ample excuse.”

Sakura nodded. “Why Sakaki?”

“It’s close enough to your actual name that if you hear it, you’ll probably respond,” Obito said with a shrug. “I think that’s why I respond so well to Tobi for some reason.”

“What’s going to be my reasoning for joining the Academy so late, though?” Sakura asked. “Won’t they find it suspicious?”

“It’s actually not that strange. We do have Genin travel all over Fire Country to start at the Academy at different ages. It is strange to be starting so late, but hopefully you won’t seem too far behind with our training,” Kakashi answered. “And since I have so much sway at the Academy and it’s well known Rin and I are friends, they won’t think anything of it when I admit her younger brother.”

Sakura’s heart started to race. This was all becoming all too real all too fast, and she was incredibly excited. Finally she would be able to show everybody what she was actually capable of!

“This may seem like a stupid question, but isn’t it kind of obvious that I’m _not_ a boy? How are we gonna pass that off?”

Rin spoke up to answer the question. “That’s one of the reasons we’ll be letting in some others on the situation. The first will be an ANBU agent assigned by Lady Tsunade. He’ll be your roommate at the Academy. It’s someone we know will be discrete and respect your privacy. He’ll help you with a henge in the mornings that will last all day to hide your more feminine features. You won’t have to worry about your hair, but you may want to cut it to your shoulders to give it a different look. If someone’s used to seeing you, the henge won’t fool them, especially if it’s supposed to last all day.”

“The second person is going to be a medic of your choice to—”

“Ino Yamanaka.”

Obito smirked at her. “You don’t even know what Rin was going to say!”

“Sorry, Rin. Finish what you were saying, but the answer is still Ino Yamanaka.”

“You’re friends with a Yamanaka? Neat! Anyways, you’ll have to wear a special binder on your chest. Since the Academy is a lot more physical than you’re used to, you’ll have to be examined daily.”

“Won’t the other Genin think it’s strange that I’m going to the hospital every day?”

“Since you’ll be enrolling late, they’ll think it’s an extra training session to get you up to par with them since the Chunin Exams will be in June. If anyone asks, tell them I’m training you specifically,” Kakashi answered.

“Your friend, Ino,” Obito spoke. “Can she be trusted with this? If word gets out about what the Hokage’s planning, if our plan gets revealed, this’ll all be for nothing.”

Sakura met his eyes. “I would trust Ino with my life. Like Rin said, she’s a Yamanaka. She knows how to keep a secret.”

“Hmm,” Kakashi started. “Wanna test that theory?”

* * *

The strange group of four headed to the hospital.

“What time does her shift start?” Obito asked.

“8:30. Same as mine, but Lady Tsunade took me off the schedule considering.”

“Cool. Mind if we visit my cousin? Haven’t seen him in a while and it’ll be fun to piss him off!”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “As a medic, I really can’t condone that kind of behavior, but you are family, so…”

“Awesome! Lead the way!”

Sakura headed towards the stairs Obito right behind her, Kakashi and Rin following a bit further. “He’s in room 317. We have to be quiet in case he’s asleep. _I will not let you wake him up_ , got it?”

“Got it!” Obito replied cheerfully, pushing the door open. The boy in the bed turned his head as the door slammed against the wall. When he saw who it was, he grimaced.

“Sasuke, my little cousin! I heard you got yourself into a bit of a pickle yesterday with that friend of yours! What have I told you about eating fire? Too much and you’ll end up looking like me!”

Sasuke turned in his bed so his back was facing the group.

Sakura spoke up, an apology in her voice. “I’m sorry, Sasuke. If I knew he was going to be so _unpleasant_ , I wouldn’t have brought him up here. Do you need me to escort him out? Kakashi-sensei is also here, if that makes it any better.”

The young Uchiha turned back around and grabbed his pen and paper from the day before.

**“There’s no use. Obito exists to annoy me. At least with Kakashi-sensei around he can be controlled.”**

Obito read the note allowed, and Kakashi allowed himself a smirk.

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, Sasuke. Naruto feels terrible, but you know how he is. You’ll be out of commission for a while yet, so I just wanted to check in. We better get going, though. You rest up, my cute little student!” Sasuke flushed as Obito laughed.

Kakashi turned and left the room, Sakura right behind him. Sasuke grabbed Obito’s arm and motioned for him to read a new note.

**“The med-nin you’re with. What’s her name? She was here yesterday, too.”**

“Ah, that’s Sakura Haruno. Lady Tsunade asked her to help me and Kakashi with a project. Nothing to worry your pretty little head over!” Obito smiled kindly at his cousin before meeting the rest of the group in the hallway.

“Ino usually shows up early, so we can head to the break room. It’s one floor down, so if she’s not here now, she will be soon. Not a lot of people use that one, it’s just us two, so we don’t have to worry about privacy,” Sakura said, leading them down to the aforementioned room. She pushed the door open and was met with the backside of a long, blonde ponytail.

“Hey, Ino-Pig.”

“Forehead! I didn’t see you last night after that whole explosion debacle! Are you alright? Your name was taken off the schedule, too, so I was worried.”

“Nah, I’m fine. Listen, we gotta talk to you about something.”

“...Alright. I recognize Kakashi-sensei, but who are these two?”

“Ino, this is Rin Nohara and Obito Uchiha. Last night, I was checking on Obito’s cousin, the one who was injured yesterday?”

“Oh! The cute one? Man, what a face, but I’m not a huge fan of brooding boys.”

“...Yeah, that one. Anyways, his friend woke up not knowing what was going on and sort of attacked me. You know how that goes.”

Ino grimaced. “Yeah, but we handle ourselves pretty well. What’s this have to do with anything?”

“Sasuke’s older brother was there, too. Itachi Uchiha. Him, Kakashi-Sensei, and the Hokage have been working on a plan. Do you remember our conversation yesterday, before we jumped out the window?”

“Wait, you guys jumped out a window?”

“Yeah, you were asking if I was happy being a med-nin. Sakura, are you leaving the hospital?”

“Kind of? Temporarily? We’re going to try something. The council and many of the elders have been fighting the decision to have Lady Tsunade chosen as Hokage. You know this, we’ve had this conversation. She’s asked me to help prove a point.”

Ino looked at the four in the room. “And what point is that?”

Kakashi took over from there. “The Hokage wants to integrate our two classes of ninja—Shinobi and Kunoichi. Other Hidden villages already do this by allowing their women to fight and go on missions and their men to become healers. Konoha is the only one that doesn’t. Sakura has been chosen to become the first female ‘Shinobi,’ if you will.”

“... _what?!_ ”

“Come August, Sakura will be enrolled in the Academy as a Genin named Sakaki Nohara, Rin’s younger brother. We need a med-nin to assist her daily with her bindings to make sure she’s healthy. We cannot, under any circumstances, let anyone know that she’s a girl before the Chunin Exams in June, otherwise the whole operation is compromised. Sakura chose you as that medic."

Sakura looked at her best friend’s blank face. “Do you guys mind if I talk to Ino alone? You can just step into the hallway.”

“Of course.”

Once the door was shut, Sakura sat down at the table they had occupied the day before. Ino followed.

“Please say something.”

“Sakura...I don’t know _what_ to say. This is crazy!”

“Is it, though? Yesterday I asked you if you were happy as a med-nin. You said yes, and so am I!”

“So why change anything?”

“Because it’s not enough!” Sakura shouted, her voice echoing around the empty room. “Ino, there’s so much more we could be doing. I was talking to Obito this morning, and he told me a story that validated my own thoughts. We send Shinobi out there on missions all the time. The only backup they have is physical. But what about medical backup? We could do so much good out there, too! But I know I couldn’t do any good if I don’t have any combat training to go with it. Lady Tsunade’s doing this to prove a point to the council and to the village elders, but I’m not just doing it for that. I’m doing it for myself. I know there’s a lot of good we could be doing out there, a lot of people we could be helping. Ino, we were never given that choice. _We should be allowed to have that choice!_ ” Tears were falling down Sakura’s face.

Ino grabbed her friend in a fierce hug. “Forehead...Sakura, I didn’t know you felt like this. You know you can always tell me these things.”

“I know. That’s why when they told me to pick a medic, you were the first person I thought of. So, Pig, what do you think?”

Ino smirked at her friend. “What kind of medic would I be if I let you bind so dangerously.”

Sakura smiled a genuine smile.

“Well, now we have the logistics down. Now I just have to train for a few months so no one suspects that I have no idea what I’m doing.”

The pair heard the door open behind them.

Obito smiled. “Now, you leave that to us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think! Like I said last chapter, I'm literally just winging it!


	3. Breaking Boundries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey... it's been a while. how you doin?
> 
> it's break for school, so I got some inspiration to work on tBoB, but I still plan on continuing bttc!
> 
> it's also a shorter chapter, but better than nothing, amirite ladies?
> 
> sorry Obito seems like jerk, but he can be
> 
> and if Sakura seems unfair with her chakra control, isn't that just canon? I mean, the Wave arc was when they were 12 and she's 15 in this WITH medical experience, so obviously she's going to have better chakra control, so you know, get over it if you don't like it

Sakura left the hospital with a wave to her blonde friend, happy to have her support. ‘ _Of course I do!_ ’ she mused. ‘ _She may be hesitant, but Ino wouldn’t stop me from pursuing something like this._ ’

She turned her head towards the Uchiha. He was certainly different from the rest of his clan—cheerful and joking. Were there others like that? There weren’t any Uchiha’s in her year at the hospital, so she didn’t have much to compare him to other than Sasuke (‘ _ But is he always that grouchy? _ ’) and Itachi, and both were incredibly stoic, yet in different ways. Well, them and the rest of the Police Force, but she didn’t interact with them too often.

Making their way to the training grounds, Sakura also looked at her other two companions. She had seen Kakashi-sensei many times in passing, although he did all in his power to avoid the hospital despite being on active duty. Rin, however, she was a bit more familiar with, working with her on some shifts. It was hard to imagine these three as a group of friends, especially not one like Obito had described to her earlier in the day, a friendship built through tragedy and hardship.

She cleared her throat. “So, what’s the plan?” she asked, trying to hide the nerves in her voice.

Obito smirked at her. “From what Bakashi here told me, you have excellent chakra control, right?”

“Yeah, you need it for most medical ninjutsu.”

“Awesome! We need to start by seeing what we’re working with, so we’ll look at your chakra control as a whole and see how we can translate what you can do to combat!”

Sakura looked skeptical. “How are we going to do that?” she asked as they approached the training ground. There was nothing particularly special about it—lots of space for sparring and jutsu practice, trees surrounding the area, some large rocks here and there, and a small pond off to one side.

Kakashi-sensei took over. “Have you ever climbed a tree?”

She stared at him like he was an idiot. “Do I look like I’m five? I climbed plenty of trees when I was a kid.”

“Ah, but have you done it without your hands?” he asked smugly, walking up the nearest tree as if it were simply an extension of the ground. He stared at her, his smiling eye waiting for her to continue her argument.

Instead she stared at him in his entirety. He had walked up the tree without issue. Obviously this was about chakra control, but what was he doing to make this feat possible? “Can you walk around a bit, Kakashi-sensei?” she asked, wanting to gather more information.

He obliged, walking up the tree in a spiral, and she watched his feet as he did so. She approached another tree and put her hand up to it, bringing chakra to her hand to see if her theory was correct. ‘ _ If I put too little chakra, nothing should happen, right? What about too  _ much _ chakra? _ ’ She decided she didn’t want to see the repercussions of what would happen with  _ that _ , so instead, she channeled chakra to her feet and brought her right foot to the base of the trunk. Lifting her other foot, she began walking, albeit a bit more unsteady that Kakashi had done. When she got halfway up the tree, she stopped at a branch and took a seat. “Like that?” she asked the trio below her.

Rin shot her a smile while Obito shouted, “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Kakashi leapt from the tree he was on to hers. “Yeah,” he said, simply. “Like that.” He stared at her a moment more. “How’d you figure it out so quickly?”

She explained her deductions, and he nodded along. Sakura’s curiosity got the best of her. “...what happens if you channel too much chakra?”

Surprisingly, Kakashi let out a loud laugh. “Oh, you’ll blow yourself off the tree pretty violently. It doesn’t happen too often to Genin considering they learn this at the start of the Academy and their chakra levels are pretty low, but when Naruto first started—let’s just say there was a learning curve for him. His Uzumaki blood gives the kid  _ way _ too much chakra to handle, especially when he was that young.”

Rin glared at Kakashi. “It’s not so funny when you have to consul an eight-year-old about why he keeps destroying trees while bandaging his injuries.”

“Alright, so what’s next?” Sakura asked, desperate to change the subject.

“Well, tree walking was a breeze for you, how about water walking?”

“What makes that so different?”

Obito chuckled at the exchange. “Well, let’s walk over to the pond and find out!” He ran over to the body of water, but kept going, finally stopping when he reached the middle. To Sakura’s shock, he was on top of the water. “So, same concept, different execution! Give it a go!” he shouted, cheerfulness strong in his voice.

Sakura walked to the edge of the pond as Obito left to lean against a nearby boulder. ' _ Same concept, different execution _ .’ she thought to herself as she slowly set her foot down towards the water. To her surprise, the water was solid beneath her, so she took another step forward, breathing slowly to concentrate.

A frog croaked.

There was a gentle splash.

Then, there was a not so gentle splash as Sakura fell into the pond, soaking herself from head to toe. Her pink hair fell heavily onto her face, and she turned red in embarrassment.

She heard a soft gasp from Rin behind her, but it was cut off from the loud laughter of the Uchiha present. “Oh, looks like she got a bit too confident there! Does a little frog frighten you that much?!”

The red in her face turned from embarrassment to anger in a second. Kakashi hummed in response, predicting what was coming next. “‘Bito, might want to stop there if I were you. Looks like you’re making an enemy.”

Obito’s single eye met Kakashi’s in a short stare-off, his Sharingan activating momentarily as if to tell him something. Obito then smirked at the girl.

“Can’t even walk on water? And you’re 15 and you fail at even that?”

Rin looked at her friend in shock. “Obito, what ar—”

“She can’t handle this mission! Look at her! She’s tiny, probably can’t fight worth a damn, why pick her?”

Sakura had enough. Her hands curled into fists, she shouted, “Why are all of you Uchiha the same?! You’re all so  _ damn _ arrogant and smug! I can’t believe I thought you were different, but it seems you were just  _ faking! _ Are you, Rin, and Kakashi-sensei even friends?! I didn’t do  _ anything _ to you to deserve this treatment from  _ you _ of all people?!”

Obito’s smirk turned into a devilish grin. “Yeah, short-stuff? And what are you going to do about it?”

Sakura’s head was rushing. What  _ was _ she going to do about it? Her thoughts were racing.  _ Too much chakra…destroying trees… _

And then, she had an idea.

Her hand still curled into a fist, Sakura channeled as much chakra as she could into her fist and met Obito’s lone eye.

And she charged.

The Uchiha didn’t move, but his eye did widen fractionally, which Sakura took some glee in. With as much force as she could muster in her anger, she aimed her fist forward and, with satisfaction, felt  _ something _ crumble from the force of her.

‘ _ Wait, crumble? _ ’

Coming back to herself, she stepped back, Obito standing exactly where he was before, his mean grin now a gentle smile.

But something about the scene was different.

The boulder Obito was leaning against was  _ gone _ . Well, not gone, exactly, but in pieces surrounding the man instead.

“So that’s why she’s the perfect candidate. I was wondering why Hokage-sama chose her, but after that little display, I gotta say, I’m impressed!” Obito beamed at her. She stared at him in bewilderment.

“B-but how—you were  _ right _ there! How are you  _ fine _ ?!”

“Oh, didn’t we mention? I can turn intangible sometimes. Just the perks of Bakashi and I having our own dimension and all that.”

Sakura didn’t want to unpack that statement.

Instead, Rin marched up to the man, anger clear on her face. “OBITO! You didn’t have to be such a  _ dick _ about it!”

“Nah, Kakashi gave me permission! Right?”

“I wouldn’t call putting me in a brief Genjutsu to tell me what was about to happen ‘ _ permission’ _ , ‘Bito.”

“Then what would you call it, eh, Bakashi?”

“Doing what you want?”

Sakura fell to the ground, still in shock. “What exactly just happened?”

Kakashi took pity on her. “You took to the chakra exercises  _ incredibly _ well, especially considering it’s your first time. Water walking is difficult for many upper-level Genin still. Obito didn’t mean what he was saying to you,  _ right Obito!? _ ”

Obito smiled brightly. “Right! I couldn’t water walk until I was almost 15! They didn’t call me Dead Last without reason, let me tell you!”

“Tsunade-sama mentioned you work well under duress, so that’s what Obito’s plan was—stress you out until you showed us what you were capable of. Now, we know what we should work on before you’re officially enrolled into the Academy.”

“I destroyed a boulder.” Sakura muttered.

Nodding, Kakashi confirmed, “You destroyed a boulder.”

“I destroyed a boulder  _ with nothing but my fist! _ ”

“I know! Isn’t that neat! I can’t wait to see what else you destroy!” Obito called cheerfully.

Sakura glared, but her heart wasn’t that into it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think!
> 
> comments are always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! I have no posting schedule because I literally wrote this on a whim, but I have a clear idea of where I want this to go. However, I'm a teacher and am hella busy, so between grading and all that jazz, it may be irregular. Please bear with me.
> 
> I'd love to have some feedback! Constructive please, not mean :)
> 
> Also, the title of this sucks so help me come up with a better one please


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